Barred in Ontario, Niagara winemaker sets up new shop in China

Tired of the bull, Vineland Estates Winery is opening a China shop.

It’s illegal to open a second store in Ontario, so the Niagara vintner is cutting the ribbon Sunday on a new outlet in the city of Tai’an in Shandong province.

Adding to the strange-but-true element to this enterprise, Ontario Agriculture and Food Minister Jeff Leal will help do the honours as part of a trade mission.

“It’s a real irony,” said Vineland Estates president Allan Schmidt, also chairman of the Wine Council of Ontario, whose members were disappointed the government hasn’t yet included vino in its plan to put beer in 450 grocery stores.

“I can open up my own retail store in a communist country but I can’t do it in Ontario,” he added, with a note of exasperation.

Across the Niagara River, New York wineries can have five satellite stores and the state government is opening Taste NY shops in places like John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports and other transportation hubs featuring local craft beers, spirits, wines and foodstuffs.

“We think they are great initiatives but apparently we can’t do the same,” lamented Schmidt.

Speaking to the Star editorial board on Friday, Ed Clark, head of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s asset review panel, said Ontario’s state-run liquor monopoly ties the province’s hands on some trade issues.

“They get away with that on the grounds that they don’t have an LCBO and so they’re clearly open for international wines,” Clark said of the New York wineries that can have up to five off-site stores.

He noted, “I have no doubt that Canada is always Boy Scouts” when it comes to trade disputes.

Schmidt agreed: “We’re too much the Boy Scouts in Canada.”